All Together In One Place

Editorial

The Twentieth Century has seen the birth and phenomenal growth first of what is now
often called the Classical Pentecostal Movement, and subsequently of the charismatic
movement and associated waves. Reaction to the Pentecostal movement in its first
half-century was almost unanimously negative, principally restricted to the behavioral
scientists and those Evangelical and Holiness leaders whose flocks were being reached by
Pentecostal preaching. The vast majority of church leaders and theologians from the
historic Churches didn't even consider the phenomenon worth the attention of criticism.
Accordingly, Pentecostals were judged by many to be emotionally disturbed, mentally
limited, sociologically deprived, more the object of pathology than of theology.
Pentecostal claims to the illumination, guidance and power of the Holy Spirit were
therefore dismissed a priori as inauthentic.

By the 1990's, Pentecostalism is taken much more seriously. There are few circles left
that dismiss it as unworthy of any serious consideration. A theological dialogue has
existed for nearly 20 years between the Roman Catholic Church and some Pentecostals; the
Evangelical Lausanne II Congress at Manilla in 1990 included a large Pentecostal and
charismatic contingent; chairs of Pentecostal studies are being proposed in some
Universities. Much of this change has no doubt occurred as a result of the spread of what
the great Pentecostal leader Donald Gee called "Pentecost outside Pentecost,"
that is, the charismatic movement bringing Pentecostal-type blessing and experience to
Christians beyond the Pentecostal Churches. While the 1960's saw the beginnings of
charismatic renewal among Anglicans and mainline Protestants, the late 1960's and 1970's
saw a major penetration of the Roman Catholic Church, and the 1980's have seen a much
greater welcome of this phenomenon in the Evangelical world.

The dramatic spread of the Pentecostal movement throughout the world has been another
major factor in making other Christians take it more seriously. It startled many when the
enormous "World Christian Encyclopedia" edited by David Barrett determined that
classical Pentecostalism was by 1980 the largest unit in the Protestant family. His
statistics for 1985 identified 168 million believers as Pentecostal or charismatic. These
figures lend considerable weight to the far-sighted designation of Pentecostal-type
Churches being a third force in contemporary Christianity.

However, despite the much greater attention now being paid to Pentecostalism, it is
still widely perceived as not being of much theological significance. Significant
theological contributions are not expected from Pentecostal or indeed charismatic sources
or even on Pentecostal-charismatic topics. It may be viewed as an interesting area for
studies in church growth or in matters of missionary methodology, but hardly in theology,
christology, or even pneumatology.

It is against this background that the importance of the theological section of
"Brighton 91", an international congress on world evangelization held in
Brighton, England July 8-14, 1991, must be judged. The leadership congress with the theme
"That the World Might Believe" was planned by the International Charismatic
Consultation on World Evangelization (ICCOWE). The editors had sole responsibility for
organizing the theological stream. Of the 150 scholars attending, several were
theologians, exegetes, or historians of world renown recognizing the importance of the
Pentecostal-charismatic phenomenon. Many were scholar-participants in these movements.
Most striking was the range of nationalities and of Church traditions represented: these
ranged from Latin American Pentecostals to a Coptic Orthodox bishop, from Scandinavian
Lutheran to New Zealand Open Brother, from Afro-American Pentecostal to Syrian rite
Catholic. Particularly well-represented was South Africa with scholars from most groupings
in that troubled land.

The papers published in this volume represent a selection of those presented during the
Brighton conference. Limitations of space as well as the more informal character of some
contributions necessitated the choice of a selection rather than a presentation of all the
papers and responses. Unfortunately, the selection reduces the Brighton encounter's
international breadth and its ecumenical range, which can however be sensed from the
programme printed on page .

This unprecedented symposium attracted participants from many ecumenical and academic
bodies, some in a representative capacity. Thus there were representatives from the World
Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches of Christ (USA) and the Graymoor
Institute (USA); people were also present from the Latin American Council of Churches, the
Latin American Theological Fraternity, the international Roman Catholic - Pentecostal
dialogue, and the NCCCUSA-Pentecostal dialogue, as well as other more regional groups.
With the exception of Oceania, all continents were represented by academic bodies
concerned with Pentecostal-charismatic studies: the Society for Pentecostal Studies (North
America); the Latin American Pentecostal Encounter; Pentecostal and Charismatic Research
in Europe (East and West); Asian Charismatic Theological Association; the Society for
Pentecostal Theology (South Africa) and the Association of Evangelicals of Africa and
Madagascar.

It must be confessed that the media reaction to the conference and perhaps especially
to the theological section was disappointing. The only serious reports to date have been
in the North American monthly "Ecumenical Trends" (3-92, 4-92) and the French
bi-monthly "Tychique" (1-92), though shorter mention was made in "The
Christian Century," "Christianity Today" (both USA) and "La
Croix" (Paris). It seemed hard for many commentators to grapple with the fact that
significant theological work was being done and contacts made within the framework of a
general conference easily perceived by the less-informed as yet another charismatic
jamboree.

In fact, the setting of the theological stream within the general conference of
Pentecostal-charismatic leaders was itself of real significance and benefit. Previous
fears that there might not be much inter-action proved to be totally unfounded. The six
theological workshops open to the general conference were among the most-attended, and
many scholars took part in the plenary evening sessions of the conference. The welcome
given to the scholars demonstrated that the leaders recognized the need for serious
theology, and the importance of interaction between pastors, preachers, and theologians.

Brighton '91 should lay to rest a vast array of myths which still cloud academic and
ecclesiastical circles. Chief among them is the complaint that serious scholarly work is
absent from the movement. This conference illustrates why Pentecostalism is not correctly
classified as a subcategory of Evangelicalism, and that not all charismatics are rightly
described as Protestants. Another prejudice that dies hard is the universal indifference
of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians to social injustice. The contributions from
South Africa with the presentation of "The Relevant Pentecostal Witness," as
well as the papers on liberation theology, tell a different story. A sharing of
information session elicited several items of wider theological interest: the proposal to
endow chairs for the study of Pentecostalism at the Free University of Amsterdam and the
University of Utrecht. Also announced was a new scholarly journal on Pentecostal theology
and a monograph series from Sheffield Academic Press. An EPLA conference slated to convene
in Brazil in late 1992 mentioned joint sponsorship by the WCC and CLAI.

The theological stream was particularly privileged to hear Dr. George Carey, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and Professor Jurgen Moltmann of the University of Tubingen.
Their presence together was a symbol of Church leadership and academic theology taking
seriously the contemporary work of the Holy Spirit among the people of God. There was
virtual unanimity among the participants that this scholarly collaboration across
continents and Churches must continue. The high level of interest in an ongoing network of
scholars with a particular interest in Pentecostal-charismatic studies was shown in the
replies to the professional data forms sent to all invited scholars. Copies of the
completed forms were made available to all participants at Brighton, and produced
immediate fruit in the gathering of special interest groups during the conference, such as
the historians present and the specialists in Latin America.

The objectives for the theological stream, formulated in advance by the organizers can
continue to serve as the objectives for this ongoing theological collaboration and
consultation. These objectives were formulated as follows:

1. Awaken and deepen among leaders a sense of the importance, necessity and
contribution of theological scholarship.

2. Help theologians and scholars to have a heightened awareness of the concerns of
pentecostal and charismatic leaders.

3. Increase understanding of each other's theological traditions and their relationship
to the history and life of the churches.

4. Contribute as only a world-wide conference can to a greater awareness of
relationship between the christian faith and the plurality of culture, and to participants
becoming more attentive to the cultural components in their own theologies.

5. Stimulate ongoing international contacts between scholars in pentecostal-charismatic
studies, and opportunities for the growth of personal friendship between them.

6. Stimulate more scholarly research in the area of pentecostal-charismatic studies, in
particular among young scholars.

7. Facilitate greater awareness of relevant work being done in other places, continents
and cultures.

8. Contribute to the world of theology by paying more attention to the contemporary
work of the Holy Spirit in pentecostal and charismatic movements.

Barriers of geography, language and denomination have made financial limitations to
ongoing collaboration seem the least of worries. Every effort is being made to build on
the contacts made at Brighton and to establish an ongoing network of scholars. It is too
early to announce detailed proposals, though it clearly makes sense to encourage existing
continental or regional societies and networks. Some of these however are not fully
representative of the Pentecostal and charismatic movements, often lacking Roman Catholic
and other "mainline" Church scholars as well as those specialists who would not
identify themselves as participants in these movements.

Ongoing scholarly collaboration across this wide range of ethnic, ecclesiastical and
other barriers must surely be of major consequence for the future of these movements and
their spiritual health. Not the least factor at stake is liberation from ethnic and racial
narrowness and the ideological limitations that frequently accompany it. Readers of these
papers who wish to have their names added to the list of interested scholars should write
to one of the editors.